Gurley gets long-awaited opportunity to play in NFL

Wednesday

Sep 11, 2013 at 7:55 PM

Former USC receiver Tori Gurley hauled in one catch in his NFL debut with the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.

By MATT CONNOLLYmatthew.connolly@shj.com

Tori Gurley has learned all too well how difficult it is to make a 53-man roster in the NFL.Last week, the former South Carolina receiver finally got to see all of his hard work pay off.After spending time on six practice squads since leaving South Carolina after the 2010 season, the Cleveland Browns promoted Gurley to the active roster on Saturday. Gurley played in his first NFL game Sunday against the Miami Dolphins.“It just kind of put everything in perspective about the work that I've put in over the past 25 years of my life,” Gurley said during a phone interview Wednesday. “It is a testament to my faith in God and hard work.”Gurley left USC after his redshirt sophomore season and entered the NFL Draft. He went undrafted, but earned an invite to training camp with the Green Bay Packers.Despite a strong preseason performance, the Packers cut Gurley before the season and signed him to the practice squad. He spent the entire 2011 season on the Green Bay practice squad and was once again cut just before the start of the 2012 season.Last year he had stints on the practice squads of Minnesota, Tampa Bay, San Diego and Oakland, but could not work his way onto an active roster.“You have to be relentless and persistent,” he said. “It's one of those things to where when I would get cut, I'd get called back to be on a different practice squad. So it's not like one of those things where I was totally out of the league, it just took patience.”Gurley attended training camp with the Browns this year, but was once again cut and signed to Cleveland's practice squad. A week later, the Browns added Gurley to the 53-man roster.Since joining the team as an active member, he has been pressing to make sure he stays on the roster.“It was one of those things where once the Browns OK'd me to get promoted, I decided to work even harder,” he said. “I thought I had exerted everything I had, but I'm pushing even harder to get better each day.”Gurley said he has received thousands of congratulatory messages through texts and social media sites.“I'm still getting them right now,” he said.Gurley recorded one catch for 15 yards in his NFL debut. The grab came in the fourth quarter with the Browns facing a fourth-and-10. “It was a great play call by (offensive coordinator) Norv (Turner), and I'm just thankful that I was able to execute and keep the drive alive,” Gurley said.After recording his first career catch, Gurley is hoping for bigger and better things moving forward. “I can't wait to get that congratulations on catching my first touchdown and winning a Super Bowl,” he said. “I dream big. That's something I truly believe in, dream big and reach for the stars.”Gurley was known for his sure hands while at USC as he shares the school record for the most receptions in a game with 14 against Vanderbilt in 2010. In addition to being a good possession receiver, he has worked hard to improve his game since leaving Columbia.“I'm even more physical as a football player,” he said. “I take great pride in going out there and just trying to impose my will on my opponent. I go out there and I block downfield and I continue to catch all of the hard passes. It's all effort, that's all that it is.”Gurley said in addition to his receiving skills, he also brings a strong special teams presence to the field. He said he performed well during the preseason on special teams, which is an area that he worked hard on while at USC under then special teams coordinator Shane Beamer.“It was something that I had in my back pocket,” Gurley said. “I was in punt return as well as kickoff (at USC) so that was a skill I had already developed, and once I got here I continued to work on that craft and it helped me out.”Gurley still keeps up with the Gamecocks. The Rock Hill native takes pride in continuing to sport his former school's colors.“Every Saturday I wear all of the travel gear. I wear a sweat suit. I have a hat Steve Spurrier gave me, and I wear that, as well as my shirt,” he said.Gurley won a bet with former North Carolina receiver Greg Little when USC defeated the Tar Heels to open the season.“I had Greg Little wearing a South Carolina shirt around here because we had a friendly little bet that if my team won he had to wear the shirt,” Gurley said. “It felt good to see him wearing that garnet and black.”